I'm always dumb enough to check when a returning band or a reunion generates new material, especially legendary acts such as Heir Apparent, who I'm a fan of. These dudes were only performing live and weren't releasing anything new since 1989, so when The View From Below came out I was half-reluctant, half-exploding with excitement to see what was up because hey, when you have enough firepower in you to record something as incredible as Graceful Inheritance (1986), you deserve at least the benefit of the doubt.

But hey, I said I was dumb, didn't I? While this is not a complete bust like other revenant geezers offer with their "back to the roots" new material, it doesn't even begin to scratch Heir Apparent's short, but relevant history. There's charm and hope when the album starts in "Man in the Sky", and even some glimpses of brilliancy in the great track "The Door" (best one here by far) with its awesome guitar leads, but like an old man trying to hump his aging wife after 30 years, there's no stamina to maintain things interesting after that. In fact, "Here We Aren't" is an epilogue of the snoozefest that is to come, with an abusive use of slow and boring parts. The music ranges between a bad A Pleasant Shade of Gray and a mid-career Queensrÿche album.

Although Will Shaw's voice is something to praise and Terry Gorle's guitar work is very decent, the choices for atmosphere and songwriting ended up making this a bland and forgettable album. I wasn't expecting a wonderful Prog/Power record à la Crimson Glory, but I definitely wasn't expecting a slow to mid-tempo strange album that never lifts off either. There are a few things to like here besides the first two tracks, such as "Savior" and "The Road to Palestine", but not enough to make it a noteworthy album. Heir Apparent show us that the view from the below isn't a pleasant one, after all.